


Back Off or I'll Take You On

by Shane_for_Wax



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen, Illegal Fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 04:18:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6838783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shane_for_Wax/pseuds/Shane_for_Wax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Shane Shepard gets bored, she tends to go and fight whether in illegal fighting rings or the Armax Arsenal Arena. This time it is an illegal fighting ring under a pseudonym.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Opener

“There are no choices. Nothing but a straight line. The illusion comes afterwards, when you ask "why me?" and "what if?". When you look back and see the branches, like a pruned bonsai tree, or forked lightning. If you had done something differently, it wouldn't be you, it would be someone else looking back, asking a different set of questions.”

Shepard sighed a little bit as she stared at her datapad. _Choices..._ she had no choices. She didn't need a stupid little book to tell her that. Technically, she might have a choice. She could just disappear. Run away. Be a coward. But she wasn't a coward. 

Grumbling under her breath she got to her feet. 

Without much of a word to anyone, the Commander left the ship. She was wearing a regular, though rather faded, hoodie. She also had on a pair of jeans that definitely had seen better days. 

She liked to get off of the ship once in a while and just wander around the Citadel. Though that day she was not just going to wander around. Her sights were set upon a 'Fight Club' type tournament in the lower parts of the Citadel. She couldn't _always_ beat up on Vega, after all. 

Although she was tall, she did not seem to have an exceptionally large amount of muscle mass. She was compact, years of training had put on muscle that was mostly invisible to the eye. Unless of course you knew what to look for. She was unassuming, easy prey, to the untrained eye. 

Finally she entered the warehouse. Hazel eyes glanced around while lightly rubbing at knuckles that were already aching to be bashed into an idiot's head. 

"You're Dagmar?" a batarian asked her as she walked up to him. Her teeth ground together in her mouth as she tried to stifle whatever words she might have sneered at him. She hated batarians with everything she had. Most tried to kill her, others insulted her.  

"Yar, that would be me. Y'got a problem with that?" she asked. She didn't need to put on a front, she didn't have to fake the snarl. She used her distaste of him to her advantage. 

"Nope. You just look really small. Your match will be the shortest one yet," the batarian said. She could hear a smirk in his voice. He only had three eyes and she wondered what had happened to the fourth. She didn't bother to ask.

"Yeah, you keep believin' that. You gonna keep yappin' about how small I am or are you goin' to give me my match info?" Shepard asked. There were fewer people who knew her on sight than she expected but that was always a good thing. It let her just wander around without being hassled. 

"Slow down, scrappy. Your match is in ten of your Earth minutes. There's time," the batarian said before picking up a datapad and looking it over. 

"Your first match is against Yeartha. Mean son of a bitch but not all that tough. You should at least last a minute," he said, smirking up at the incognito Commander.

"Right. Sounds delightful. Ring?" 

"Four."

"Gotcha. I'll try not to destroy it."

"We'll see, human." 

Shepard felt her upper lip twitch slightly but she again stifled her temper. She sneered at him before turning and heading off. 

She removed her hoodie which left her in a red sleeveless shirt. She chose red mainly because it didn't show blood as well. She stuffed it in what she supposed passed for a locker. She wasn't too concerned about her hoodie being stolen, it didn't exactly have much sentimental value or retail value.

She pushed her hair out of her eyes then set off down the way. Ring Four was, like all the others, sanctioned off using crates and other objects. She was allowed through the gate without much fuss at all. 

Smiling to herself, she cracked her knuckles while taking in the unassuming arena. What she assumed amounted to bleachers were stacked up haphazardly about ten feet above her head. She supposed it was that way for many reasons. 

"Today we've got a relative newcomer gracing our ring. Dagmar comes to us from the Terminus Systems. Her match is against Yeartha. Place your bets now," she heard the flanging voice of a turian. Her lips thinned a little bit. She had never given where she was from, fake or not. She supposed it didn't matter though had to wonder the point. 

She folded her arms across her chest as she waited. 

"And here comes Yeartha now!" the turian called out as the gate opened once more to grant her opponent entrance...


	2. The Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The actual fight between Shepard and Yeartha.

Hazel eyes narrowed when she got a proper look at her opponent. She shifted automatically into her fighting stance while also wishing maybe she had asked about being able to wear armor. 

Her opponent just happened to be a heavily armored krogan. He even had a helmet on. She would never get used to seeing a krogan with a helmet. It had been amusing to see Wrex in one back during their fight against Saren and his geth. It had been even more interesting when she had rescued Grunt and most of the krogan they ran into had been wearing helmets. 

Yeartha was an odd name for a krogan though and she had to wonder if maybe the krogan had grown up with a different race. She would probably never get her answer. 

"Remember, this is not a death match fight. Do not kill each other as that will be grounds for fines, disqualification, and even your own death," the announcer said. "Other than that, anything goes! Begin!"  

As soon as the word 'begin' had left the turian's mouth Shepard's opponent launched into action with a roar. She kicked off of the ground, jumping to her left. The krogan kept charging right past where she had been standing. She pivoted on her right foot so that she could properly face her opponent. As she did she flung a biotic missile at his back. It didn't even seem to phase him but it did get his attention. 

While the krogan was still turning, Shepard had launched herself to the right then threw another biotic missile. It slammed into the krogan's armor but again didn't seem to do much. Another roar erupted from the krogan as he charged again. 

Once he got close enough she sent her fist to his stomach. The impact caused the krogan's feet to lift up off of the ground by about an inch and he gave a roar of anger. She then sent her forehead to his helmeted one. A hollow thunk was heard then the krogan again roared with anger and a bit of confusion. How was a seemingly normal, skinny, unassuming human doing this to him? 

Yeartha stumbled backward, holding his helmet that was actually a little dented. The crowd, which had thus far been screaming and cheering, suddenly hushed when they realized what damage Shepard had done. 

Shane didn't have much time to celebrate her triumph before the krogan flailed at her. She took a heavy punch to the sternum that launched her off of her feet and flying to the opposite end of the ring. She hit the wall made of shipping containers with a thump. 

Quickly she scrambled back to her feet. She charged full-tilt at Yeartha, ignoring the entirely shell-shocked crowd. One, two, three, four punches all connected with the krogan's middle. Another roar then a headbutt was her reward. She stumbled backward, holding her own head. A delay of a couple seconds and suddenly blood began to trail from somewhere beyond her hairline and down her face. Scalp wounds always bled badly. Her fists were throbbing as well and had lost a couple layers of skin. 

Shepard ignored the blood that was staining her face as she threw her hand forward. A mass effect field formed around her body as she attacked once more. The krogan was knocked off of his feet again by her biotic Throw. She jumped into the air after the krogan. Once he landed she was not far behind and dropped down on him, sending an already bruising fist to his helmet. Thanks to a quickly formed barrier, her fist didn't get anymore banged up than it already was. 

The krogan squirmed on the ground almost like a flipped over turtle. She watched as he tried to get his arms to work properly. She leaped up off of her opponent just as he sent a heavy arm sweeping at the place her neck had been moments before. He continued trying to get back up to his feet but wasn't having much luck. 

Giving up, the krogan held up two claws. 

"And it looks like our newcomer, Dagmar, has won her first match!" the turian announcer called out after a few seconds of getting his composure back. The crowd didn't even cheer for the victor. Probably because she had made all of them lose their bets... 


End file.
